EDWARD SHERIFF CURTIS was born in Wisconsin in 1868 to parents
Ellen and Johnson Curtis. His sister, Eva, was born in 1870 and
his brother, Asahel, in 1874. Edward also had an older brother,
Ray, born in 1861. After Asahel's birth the family moved to Cordova,
a rural settlement in Le Sueur County, Minnesota, where Johnson
Curtis worked as a preacher for United Brethren Church. As a boy
Edward often accompanied his father on canoe trips to visit members
of the congregation. His experience camping outdoors with his father
helped prepare him for the extensive field work he would do later
in his career.

As an adolescent Edward constructed his own camera with the help
of the then popular manual Wilson's Photographics. It is
also possible that he worked for a photographer in St. Paul for
a period of time before his family moved west. Because his father's
health was not good and his older brother Ray had married and moved
to Portland, Oregon, Curtis took on much of the responsibility of
supporting the family. He worked for a time as a supervisor on the
Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault St. Marie Railroad.

In the Fall of 1887 Edward and his father traveled to Washington
Territory and by Winter had settled in the Puget Sound. They were
joined by Ellen Curtis and the other two children the following
Spring. Shortly after their arrival Johnson Curtis contracted pneumonia
and died. Edward then assumed primary responsibility for supporting
the family. Although his income was meager, he was able to buy a
camera. In 1892 he married Clara Phillips and opened a portrait
studio in Seattle in partnership with Thomas Guptill. While their
business was very successful, they parted ways in 1897 and Curtis
renamed the business Edward S. Curtis, Photographer and Photoengraver.
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